Double victory for Cooper Tire at Munich X Games

Friday 5 July 2013

Cooper Tire claimed a double victory at the Munich X Games event this weekend with Liam Doran sealing a maiden victory for Prodrive on Saturday before Finnish driver, Toomas Heikkinen, broke his rallycross victory duck to take gold in Sunday’s second leg.Doran claimed his X Games win on Cooper’s all-new wet-weather rallycross tyre, while fairer weather on Sunday at the Bavarian venue meant that Heikkinen took his maiden X Games gold on Cooper’s acclaimed ACB11 rubber.On Saturday a rain-soaked course provided the first high profile international success for Cooper’s recently launched wet-weather rallycross tyres.Doran won his heat with ease and lined up on the front row for Saturday’s event, entitled ‘Rallycross One.’ The Briton stormed off the line and was soon hot on the heels of then-leader, Toomas Heikkinen. Doran waited until the course’s hairpin corner before making his move, storming through the dirt to emerge as the leader, where he remained, holding on for the win. Ken Block took the silver medal, while Heikkinen claimed bronze.Dry weather returned for Sunday and the scheduled Munich X Games round. Heikkinen lined up at the front after winning his heat and the 22-year-old expertly navigated his way around the first-corner carnage as Sverre Isachsen’s Subaru was bounced on two wheels.With the incident cleared, Heikkinen was able to build a lead on the rest of the pack and the young Finn held on to take his first ever X Games gold medal, eventually crossing the line a full five seconds ahead of second-placed Doran, with Tanner Foust a further five seconds down the road in third.Speaking after the event, a reflective Heikkinen, said, “It felt good, but we have a long season and we have to go to LA and see what will happen. I’m leading the championship right now and we have to be happy, but tomorrow we have to concentrate on the future. The team makes it work, they make the cars – I just come in and do my best.”The final event in the 2013 Global X Games will take place in Los Angeles, USA, over the weekend of August 3-4.